Comment by iamdbtoo
2 years ago
> We understand that life doesn't always go according to plan. Shimmer members can cancel or reschedule a coaching video call without penalty 24 hours in advance. If cancellation is within 24 hours, the session will be forfeited for the week. Thank you for your understanding!
I understand your need to ensure your time is not wasted, but policies like this can wreak havoc on people struggling with executive dysfunction and that's your target audience. I don't know what the right solution is, but a company serving this market needs a more flexible policy for something like this.
Maybe an optional plan that costs a little extra but allows for last minute rescheduling within the week. And everyone starts with this feature at no extra cost at the beginning. The company leaves extra slots open for this possibility, treating it like an insurance scheme.
Also last minute rescheduling means last minute scheduling for other people too. They may find that they just offer this to everyone and the costs balance out. It does seem like imposing too many scheduling constraints on a specifically ADHD audience could lead to a lot of friction!
Yes! Actually we kind of have a soft rule that in the first few weeks we always make sure you get your session, even if it means rescheduling last minute. This isn't of course the best scenario for our coaches who are waiting on the other end, but we're happy to invest in this to make sure our members get off on the right foot (the onboarding call is very important and must happen to start the coaching relationship).
However, after the first few weeks, we try our best to uphold the policy because the nature of our coaching service (and we want to keep the integrity) is that the member is best fit to meet their specific assigned coach to continue the relationship (trust, openness, safe space, etc.). In practice though, as long as our coaches have time, most of them will offer a rescheduling of some sort. We do want to set good examples and boundaries and have members practice this wherever possible, while of course being sensitive to ADHD accomodations.
cc: OP, iamdbtoo
> We do want to set good examples and boundaries and have members practice this wherever possible, while of course being sensitive to ADHD accomodations.
I would include the accommodations in the policy, then. Right now, you have a strict policy with accommodations being hidden and handed out arbitrarily instead of making them default and transparent while the vast majority of your clients will require the accomodation.
I would also include the ability for the coach to notify the client they are currently missing the appointment. Time blindness is a very real thing and unless I stop everything I'm doing and stare at the Zoom screen there's a chance I will miss the appointment. I missed some doctor appointments this way, but if they had just texted or called me to break my hyperfocus, I would've hopped on the call right then.
Lastly, just seeing policies like this out in the wild would give me more confidence in the service you offer. Seeing the same policy that every other doctor has that ADHDers get "taxed" from all the time just makes me think you don't understand.
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Yeah. I mean if people cancel 20% of the time then you could pay the coaches either way and then charge 20% more for the service. At least that is what I am thinking. Maybe it wouldn’t bother the coaches as much if they’re going to get paid either way. Maybe with limits to how often this can occur without a penalty.
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I agree with this. Such policies often have very ableist results for people with dopamine shortage. That may not be the intention, it's often a purely business decision based on economic analysis of the business model, but that is a common result.
The sad part is, it would be entirely possible for ADHD and other ASDs to be accomodated in daily society. But, people without those differences would abuse the absolute piss out of those accomodations. How do we prevent abuse without harming those who legitimately require such accomodations? There's a reason there is such a concept as "ADHD tax".
the right answer, with a pool of VC money, is to have a pool of coaches on tap, so the appointment is NOW. no scheduling stuff in the future to be missed or forgotten. expensive on the back end, but that's what the VC money is for. And also to have it in the middle of the night - so many people I know have their awake hours from 1-3am, meet people with ADHD where they are.
Thank you for the suggestion!
Unfortunately for our specific service, where the focus is on the coaching relationship between the specific coach and member, doesn't make us best fit for a "drop in" session, at least for the core model. Creating and maintaining a trusting relationship with the coach is a multi-step (multi-week) process and for many members redeveloping this trust with a 2nd/3rd coach may be out of the question.
However, I could imagine this being kind of an add on to our normal sessions, and there could be times you could talk about something separate from your specific coaching journey with a coach that may or may not be yours.
You got my wheels turning.
fair point. I wasn't imagining as a sustained thing, but as a "it's 3am, my life is in shambles because I totally time-blindnessed forgot $very_important_thing, and now I'm going to get broken up with/fired and I'm desperate and crying and overwhelmed." kind of first meeting, for capturing forward momentum from new members who just signed up and need a shred of hope. not that something like that is finally what led me to get an official diagnosis, of course. being tired of feeling like a failure is a powerful motivator to sign up, but help later at an appointment I'm going to forget and not go to is worthless compared to any sort of help now.
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